UNIVERSITY TEACHING IN VICTORIA,

Otago Witness, Issue 2045, 4 May 1893, Page 23

UNIVERSITY TEACHING IN VICTORIA,

The scheme of reform submitted by the select committee of the University Senate Contains (says the Melbourne Leader) some desirable alterations. As hitherto conducted, the matriculation examination has been something of a delusion. The attempt has been made to make this preliminary in the path of academical instruction serve a double purpose. Originally intended as a test of fitness for entrance into the halls of Alma Mater, a kind of pans asinorum in fact, it has been converted into a function of the secondary schools, and has been utilised as a means of displaying the quality of the education given in these institutions. A very small proportion indeed^ of the candidates for matriculation v. «ye any idea of continuing their studies in the university. This examination parks "the ending and not the entrance of their course. The schools have valued highly the opportunity of emphasising the excellence of their teaching; bub there are sound reasons for regarding the present practice as prejudicial alike to the university and to the children who are going forth without further trainipg into the wider sphere of life. The preliminary examination of the university does not furnish the most useful test of fitness for boys who it is supposed are being prepared for the ordinary vocations of the workaday world. Complaints are frequently made of the failure of these schools to accomplish this object, and it is truly enough said that a State Bchool boy well grounded in the elements has received a far more profitable preparation than a matriculated student with knowledge diverse but shallow. If explanation is needed, it is to be found in the misdirection of energy caused by the acceptance of a mistaken standard. The university also suffers by the lowering of its test of fitness, and professors declare that, through opening too easily the doors of admission, the quality of the instruction has to be reduced to the lower level of the average. The new scheme proposes to remedy these evils by providing two examinations in place of the present matriculation examination— one to be considered exclusively as a university test, and the other to gauge the quality of the educational work of the schools. In the one case the standard will be raised, and in the other modified and readjusted, particular stress being laid on ability to satisfy the examiners in English composition, spelirag, and elementary arithmetic. If this alteration be cordially accepted, the outcry against the non-commercial character of secondary education in Victoria will cease to apply. In raising the matriculation test the examination for entrance to the university will be made more of a reality. No candidate will be accepted under 16 years, and the honour papers will be an addition to the pass instead of being entirely different. This is a concession which will enable those who fail in honours to save their "pass." The scheme is reasonable enough to deserve the favourable attention of the University Senate.